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Does anybody know where Bu Jin Design is at with the partnership with Aikido 24? I am looking for a blue cotton hakama.

Hi Sandra.I have heard resently that Bu Jin is no longer functioning, although i'm not sure, maybe is just a rumour and i haven't crosschecked so i don't want to mislead you.I have a hakama made by them, it's one of the best i've seen, so if everyone knows something about this rumour please let me know too...

Bu Jin has partnered up with Aikid24. They do have a limited stock of items on thier web site, but they are slowly getting more each time I look. If you do not see your size or what you want contact them and they may be able to help you. I have contacted them and they got back to me pretty quick. I spoke with them on the phone and they were able to help me out with what I needed.

Check the website, it looks like they are getting there but aren't quite ready to take orders for new hakama and dogi yet.

i have been checking their website, but have not seen the bujin gi show up yet. my two pair of gi are in need of technology refresh, since rips and holes start to show. luckily, i wore hakama; otherwise, it would be difficult to explain things.

I'm looking for his DVDs, but aikido24 told me they are only available in the US area code until now.

As far as I understand you can only buy them at his seminars. He said at the seminar this spring that he only sells them at the seminars sort of as cliff notes on what they have experienced with him directly.

As far as I understand you can only buy them at his seminars. He said at the seminar this spring that he only sells them at the seminars sort of as cliff notes on what they have experienced with him directly.

Ikeda Sensei's stated reason for this is that what he is doing looks fake. He didn't want to put his videos out there to folks who hadn't first "felt it". I have certainly had that experience myself with some video clips I posted. The folks who have never trained with me often thought my ukes were colluding, the folks that had actually been on the mat with me knew I could do what I was showing.

There's enough BS around that I think he wants to be careful of his reputation. I'm not sure why he cares really... he teaches world wide and constantly, there are quite enough folks out there who get to work with him in person that I can't see how a few doubting Thomas's would hurt him. But that's why he doesn't sell the videos outside his personal appearances.

Ikeda Sensei's stated reason for this is that what he is doing looks fake. He didn't want to put his videos out there to folks who hadn't first "felt it". I have certainly had that experience myself with some video clips I posted. The folks who have never trained with me often thought my ukes were colluding, the folks that had actually been on the mat with me knew I could do what I was showing.

There's enough BS around that I think he wants to be careful of his reputation. I'm not sure why he cares really... he teaches world wide and constantly, there are quite enough folks out there who get to work with him in person that I can't see how a few doubting Thomas's would hurt him. But that's why he doesn't sell the videos outside his personal appearances.

Yes.
I attended Ikeda senseis seminar here in Germany few weeks ago. aikido24/bujin was present. But they don't sell / he don't sells his DVDs here because they only exist with the US area code. So you can't play them in most DVD-Players here in Germany.
They told me, Ikeda works on it.

Does anyone know when Bujin will sell Hakamas again ?? My blue custom cotton-poly twill hakama is my favorite among my 3 hakamas.. It is tough, maintains easy, and has THE BEST length of front+back obi.. I also like the unique abreviated koshita..

DVD's that Ikeda Sensei has sold or is currently selling fall into two groups:
1) the ones sold by Bu Jin that included the earlier teaching series that Ikeda Sensei made in the 1990's as well as DVD's from various Boulder Summer Camps;
2) the DVD's recorded at seminars in the past 4-5 years.

It is the second category that he will only sell at seminars. I keep hoping that at some point the ones formerly sold through the Bu Jin website will become available through Aikido 24. But if the DVD's in their current format aren't viewable on a German/European DVD player, I can see where that problem would need to be resolved first.

Most people I know have region free DVD players, and Mac's / PC's play them without issue via VLC which is free!

Just for interest...

We have a DVD player/recorder which will play US-formatted discs (or should that be "disks"?), but we only dicovered recently that if there is anything lined up for recording from the TV it will not switch format, and so will not play DVDs in other formats unless you clear the record schedule. Before I worked this out, I took a Leonard Cohen DVD back to HMV a year or so ago because we couldn't get it to play.

My new hakama arrived yesterday and I have to say that they're as well made as they ever used to be . It arrived in a well presented ziploc bag with the bujin logo and as an added bonus came with a very nice large landscape kendo calendar! I'm impressed.

I'll give it a go on Saturday but at the moment, very very happy that they're back!

Still waiting on my new hakama. The communication from Aikido24 has been spotty. My partner and I sent several emails to check on its status after 8 weeks had gone by from ordering. We got one email back apologizing for the lack of response, and offering free embroidering. We emailed back with an image and description of the embroidery we'd like, but it has been a couple weeks since we sent that email, and no response, again.

So, looks like Aikido24 was less prepared for the hakama onslaught than they thought, their lead time on hakamas has changed from 6-8 weeks to 8-10 last I checked, and communication has been spotty. I hope the hakama is nice, and BuJin can protect its good name.

I do wish the hak would get here, I'm running out of athletic tape, and more holes keep showing up in my current one.

I've noticed communication delays as well. And when my hakama came, it was the wrong length. They offered to replace it at no cost to me (and offered free embroidery if I desired it) but still haven't told me what to do with the "bad" one.

And my old hakama is just not wearable anymore. I suppose I could do a quick sew job but it's also become pleatless and just generally old-age grody. So I've been going "naked" and I'm getting sick of it.

But I am happy they didn't give me any trouble with fixing the mistake, it's just going to take forever. I'm hoping I'll be happy when I get it and can shrug it of as "quality takes time."

Hmmm, got the new BuJin hak and I am a bit non-plussed. The fabric is good, but not the same heavy duck.The blue is VERY dark, looked really black before I washed to get some of the smurfiness out of it. One of the great features of my previous BuJin hakama is that it has faded beautifully, like a favorite pair of Levis. I hope this one does. too.

But first, it has to fit me. I ordered the XL, since that is the size my old one is. Perhaps my old one is actually one of the ones made for women and this one isn't since there was no option for ordering a women's model.In the new one, there is absolutely NO room for having an ass, none. No ass room. The vents are fully open and the tops of my hips stick right on out. The tops of the thighs feel a bit constricted. I wish someone would actually accommodate female martial artists in their uniform designs. Yes, I'm fat, I've noticed that about myself a lot, but my old hakama really does fit better.

The aiki back is not as well done as the original. It is not as thickly padded as the old ones, and there is no stitching across the back plate. It seems to want to pooch out front to back, it is smaller than the old one, doesn't wrap as far or as snugly around the back. And the himo coming off of it are a little wider than the old straps.

The front panel's himo are hella short considering the way I tie my hak, which is not an unusual method. If I tie the way I usually do, the himo are about 16 inches too short. If I just go around once, they are ridonkulously too long.

Here's my method, perhaps someone can point me at another way that will fix the short himo problem.
Step into hak. Bring rear panel up around waist, slide rear himo under belt from above at my sides, bring the straps to the front and tie in a bow. Bring front panel up and in front of belt. From above, slide top few inches of front panel, including himo, between belt and gi, pulling front himo through. Wrap front himo around back, around belly, around back again, bring to front and tie in a knot. Put the free ends in a neat flat bow.

Now, as I train for my nidan, I expect to lose a good deal of weight. That'll help some with the weird fit, I hope. I was so hoping for an out of the box smile and the pleasure of wearing my second BuJin hakama to class this week. I guess I will patch the knees of my old one and limp it along until I lose enough of this pesky ass thing that I find myself with and can get my new one to fit.